“We have around 80 to 90 permanent school refusers in the city,” reports Udo Pfingsten, head of the Kassel Youth Welfare Office. The nature and reasons for school absence are varied, explains Barth. Some young people attend class but do not participate. “Or they stay away from school for reasons that are not understandable, for example by being absent for long periods due to a minor illness. This happens relatively often,” says Barth. In this case, we speak of passive school avoidance.
If the young people are absent or present without excuse repeatedly and/or for a longer period of time and refuse to attend class by disrupting it, this is referred to as active school avoidance. School refusers are not lazy, Barth emphasizes. There are always reasons for their behavior, usually family problems. The corona pandemic has exacerbated the problem. “Students who were already having difficulties before then stopped doing anything at all.”
Individual support for school avoiders
The aim of the “2nd Chance” form of assistance is to give young people a new perspective on school. To this end, Barth and his three colleagues develop individual support offers in cooperation with the young people, their parents and the class teachers.
The request usually comes from schools, reports the social worker. “Then there is an initial meeting with the young person and the parents at school, which, if desired, leads to longer-term care of one to two years.” By that point, disciplinary measures are often already pending or have already been imposed. “Not every request results in care,” says Barth. Last year, for example, there were 70 requests, 165 consultation appointments and 21 longer-term care arrangements.
“As part of our support, we do a lot of leisure activities with the young people, accompany and support them in everyday things,” explains Barth. Sometimes these are very simple things like going swimming. “We also visit the families. We want to get to know the young people, build trust and reduce fears. At some point the problems come to the table.”
The goal is to graduate from school
The aim is to bring the refusers back into the school system and to strengthen them so that they can manage school on their own and are not distracted by problems. “That doesn’t always work, but often.” At least they can be stabilized so that they can manage school. “Our motto is: no one gets lost,” says youth welfare office official Pfingsten. Kassel’s mayor and youth department head Nicole Maisch is convinced of the help. “It would already be a success if we reached one student, but we reach many more,” says the Green politician.
According to the city, Marburg also focuses on individual support for school-abstinent young people, in addition to prevention, for example through social work at school. They are accompanied there for up to a year by a team from the “2nd Chance” project office. “For young people who can no longer be integrated into the regular school system, there is also the Flex distance learning school,” explains a press spokesperson for the city. Unlike in school, the young people learn in their familiar environment and work at their own pace. The offer within the framework of youth welfare makes it possible to adapt the support individually to the young people’s level of learning and needs. “The goal is successful reintegration into society and the education system.”
In addition, the State Education Authority has urged schools to report violations of compulsory school attendance more quickly so that, if necessary, an administrative offence procedure can be initiated. “This allows more intensive and cross-system action. The administrative offence procedure leads, among other things, to an official warning, a fine and also initiates assistance and advisory discussions.”
Alternative teaching
According to the responsible State School Office, school refusers in Offenbach are taught in an alternative school program for a year as part of the “Scout” project. In addition, the city’s “School Absenteeism Network” consisting of the General Social Services, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Youth Services at School and School Psychology is dealing with the problem in order to promote institutional exchange.
There are also on-demand school psychology services for schools to support the development of school concepts for dealing with school absenteeism, as well as school psychological counseling in individual cases based on the manual “Pedagogical-psychological measures for dealing with school avoidance” from the Hessian Ministry of Education.
According to the city, there is a well-functioning network in Hanau and the Main-Kinzig district, including schools, advice centers, youth and job support, and pediatric services. They also want to raise awareness of the problem of school refusal and offer help. A new flyer will be published shortly, which will be available in schools and pediatricians, among other places.
Around 4,800 administrative offence proceedings for violation of compulsory school attendance
According to the Hessian Ministry of Education, 4,811 administrative offence proceedings were initiated across the state last year for so-called violations of compulsory school attendance. By comparison, in 2022 there were 4,944, while in 2019 the Hessian Ministry of Education recorded 5,052 proceedings, several of which may relate to one person.
The decisive factor in each specific case is always the early identification and analysis of absences, the clarification of the causes of school avoidance and the development of a targeted professional support plan for the affected students, for example with the help of school psychological counseling, explains a spokeswoman. “In addition, we focus on preventive measures aimed at promoting a positive school climate and creating a healthy school environment in which all students have the opportunity to develop and maintain their physical and mental health.”
